A power converter is a power processing circuit that converts an input voltage waveform into a specified output voltage waveform. In many applications requiring a DC output, switched-mode DC/DC converters are frequently employed. Such converters generally include an inverter, an input/output isolation transformer, and a rectifier on a secondary side of the isolation transformer. The inverter generally includes a switching device, such as a field effect transistor (“FET”), that converts the DC input voltage to an AC voltage. The input/output isolation transformer then transforms the AC voltage to another value and the rectifier generates the desired DC voltage at the output of the converter. Conventionally, the rectifier includes a plurality of rectifying diodes that conduct the load current only when forward-biased in response to the input waveform to the rectifier.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional, traditional, and proposed approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such approaches with embodiments of the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings.